{"id":13339,"date":"2021-07-20T07:10:12","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T11:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/?p=13339"},"modified":"2025-05-25T07:15:42","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T11:15:42","slug":"democracy-watch-in-court-today-vs-integrity-commissioner-rulings-allowing-ford-pc-party-connected-lobbyists-to-lobby-ford-cabinet-secretly-and-unethically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/democracy-watch-in-court-today-vs-integrity-commissioner-rulings-allowing-ford-pc-party-connected-lobbyists-to-lobby-ford-cabinet-secretly-and-unethically\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy Watch in court today vs. Integrity Commissioner rulings allowing Ford\/PC Party-connected lobbyists to lobby Ford Cabinet secretly and unethicallyDemocracy Watch in court today vs. Integrity Commissioner rulings allowing Ford\/PC Party-connected lobbyists to lobby Ford Cabinet secretly and unethically"},"content":{"rendered":"

9 Court cases challenge Commissioner\u2019s first three public rulings on lobbying ethics rule since July 2016, and failure to penalize six lobbyists who violated law<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/b>
Tuesday, July 20, 2021<\/p>\n\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Today, the Ontario Divisional Court is holding the first hearings on nine court cases Democracy Watch filed last December challenging nine rulings by Ontario\u2019s Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake. Commissioner Wake is trying to stop all the cases, claiming his rulings can\u2019t be challenged in court. DWatch is asking the court to allow the cases to proceed<\/a>, and to order the Commissioner to disclose details about all his rulings<\/a> <\/strong>that the Commissioner wants to keep secret. Nick Papageorge of Ross McBride LLP<\/a> is representing Democracy Watch for the cases. See details about the nine cases below.<\/p>\n\n

To register to watch the hearing on Zoom at 10 am Tuesday, email the Divisional Court registry office at: scj-csj.divcourtmail@ontario.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Three of the nine cases challenge<\/strong> the first three public rulings of the Integrity Commissioner\u2019s unknown number of decisions in the past few years that have let dozens of people (and maybe more) violate enforcing section 3.4<\/a> of Ontario\u2019s Lobbyists Registration Act<\/em> (LR Act<\/em>) by lobbying Doug Ford and his Cabinet ministers soon after they campaigned, fundraised or worked for Ford and\/or Ontario\u2019s PC Party in the 2018 leadership race and election, and\/or worked for Ford or one or more of his ministers since the election.<\/p>\n\n

Section 3.4 was added to the LR Act<\/em> on July 1, 2016, and it prohibits lobbying any politician or other public office holder if it will create a real or potential conflict of interest or make it improper for them to further the interests of the lobbyist or their clients.<\/p>\n\n

Many of these people are still advising Ford and\/or in senior PC Party positions while they continue to lobby Ford\u2019s Cabinet on long-term care<\/a>, property development<\/a>, COVID-19 relief, mining, and other big issues. Click here<\/a> to see a fairly complete list of lobbyists who are lobbying unethically, and click here<\/a> to see Toronto Star<\/em> articles about even more lobbyists lobbying the Ford Cabinet unethically.<\/p>\n\n

Even one of Ford\u2019s MPPs has expressed concern, as Thornhill MPP Gila Martow<\/a> issued a statement via Twitter<\/a> and a docs webpage<\/a> last December that said in part:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cBig box retailers should not be permitted to enrich themselves on the backs of small businesses simply because they can afford to hire <\/span>well-connected lobbyists like Melissa Lantsman<\/a> to get them preferential treatment.\u201d (link in original)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Commissioner Wake\u2019s rulings are based on a very weak Interpretation<\/a> Bulletin<\/span> he finally issued in June 2020 that claims when a lobbyist assists a politician with fundraising or campaigning or gives them a gift<\/a>, the conflict of interest created by the assistance or gift disappears soon afterwards, so the lobbyist can then lobby the politician and their staff.<\/p>\n\n

All other commissioners in Canada have ruled that the conflict of interest created by assisting a politician in any significant way lasts for several years. For example, the federal Commissioner of Lobbying\u2019s ruling<\/a> says the conflict lasts four years. The federal lobbying law also prohibits Cabinet staff from lobbying for five years after leaving their position (s. 10.11<\/a> \u2013 though it has loopholes). Click here<\/a> to see Backgrounder on Conflict of Interest Rule in Ontario\u2019s Lobbying Law<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

The other six cases challenge<\/strong> Commissioner Wake\u2019s arbitrary failure to penalize six lobbyists who violated Ontario\u2019s lobbying law in serious ways, mainly by failing to register and disclose their lobbying for a year or more. The Commissioner has failed to penalize 23 of 27 lobbyists<\/a> (85%) who have violated the law since 2018.<\/p>\n\n

During the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Commissioner Wake only penalized one lobbyist, Lawrence Gold, for violating LR Act<\/em> by failing to register and disclose his lobbying for a long period of time. The Commissioner only imposed the minimum penalty of naming Mr. Gold publicly<\/a>. Four of the other six lobbyists who were not penalized by the Commissioner did exactly the same thing as Mr. Gold. The other two lobbyists violated the law by lobbying politicians after campaigning for them or giving them gifts, in violation of section 3.4<\/a> of the LR Act<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

All nine cases also ask the courts to rule<\/strong> that Commissioner Wake was biased when he issued the six rulings, given he knew that he would need the unanimous approval of Ford\u2019s Cabinet and all MPPs to be re-appointed for a second five-year term, which happened on December 1st<\/a> (although many MPPs were not present for that snap vote<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

\u201cDozens of people who have helped or worked for Doug Ford or his Cabinet ministers or the PC Party have set themselves up in lobbying firms and, even though many of them have never lobbied before, big businesses are hiring them because they know it will get them inside access to Ford and his ministers,\u201d<\/em> Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch. \u201cDemocracy Watch is challenging the first three very weak decisions that Ontario\u2019s so-called Integrity Commissioner has made public that have allowed lobbyists to corrupt Ontario government policy-making as they cash in on their so-called public service. Hopefully the courts will stop this unethical lobbying of Ford\u2019s Cabinet.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

\u201cOntario\u2019s Integrity Commissioner has also failed to penalize almost all the lobbyists he has found in violation of the lobbying law since 2018, and so Democracy Watch is taking the commissioner to court to challenge the worst of his many bad rulings,\u201d<\/em> said Conacher. \u201cHopefully the courts will issue rulings that require the Commissioner to start enforcing the lobbying rules strictly by penalizing all lobbyists who violate the law.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Huge loopholes in the LR Act<\/em> allow countless other lobbyists to lobby in secret and unethically. None of the following lobbying activities are required to be disclosed: unpaid lobbying<\/a>, business lobbying<\/a> or non-profit organization lobbying<\/a> of less than 50 hours a year, lobbying about the enforcement of a law<\/a>, or in response to a request for feedback<\/a> from a Minister, official or MPP. As a result, anyone lobbying in these ways is also allowed to lobby unethically.<\/p>\n\n

– 30 –<\/p>\n

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:<\/strong>
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: info@democracywatch.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

Democracy Watch\u2019s Government Ethics Campaign<\/a> and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\n
\n\n

Backgrounder on Democracy Watch\u2019s 9 cases challenging Ontario Integrity Commissioner rulings on lobbyists in 2019-2020<\/h2>\n\n

Since April 2018, Commissioner Wake has issued 192 secret Advisory Opinions, closed 135 secret compliance reviews at the initial stage, and resolved 436 cases informally in secret (Click here<\/a> to see Backgrounder on Integrity Commissioner\u2019s Rulings<\/em> 2018-2020<\/em>). At least some of those 763 secret decisions by Commissioner Wake have allowed dozens of other lobbyists to lobby unethically.<\/p>\n\n

The first three cases challenge rulings #6 and 7 on page 52 of the Commissioner\u2019s 2019-2020 Annual Report<\/em><\/a>, and ruling #10 on page 53 of the Report<\/em>. These are the first public Commissioner rulings enforcing section 3.4<\/a> of the LR Act<\/em>. The cases are Division Court file numbers 632\/20, 633\/20 and 634\/20. Click here<\/a> to see the Notice of Application challenging ruling #6 (the other two applications are very similar).<\/p>\n\n

The other six cases challenge rulings #s 5, 14, 17 and 23 (the four lobbyists who also failed to register) and rulings #s 13 and 20 (the two lobbyists who violated the lobbying ethics rule) in the Commissioner\u2019s 2019-2020 Annual Report<\/em><\/a>. The six cases are Division Court file numbers 644\/20, 645\/20, 646\/20, 647\/20, 648\/20 and 669\/20.<\/p>\n\n

To register to watch the hearing on Zoom at 10 am Tuesday, July 20, 2021, or to access the court files, email the Divisional Court registry office at: scj-csj.divcourtmail@ontario.ca<\/a><\/p>\n\n

9 Court cases challenge Commissioner\u2019s first three public rulings on lobbying ethics rule since July 2016, and failure to penalize six lobbyists who violated law<\/span><\/h4>\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/b>
Tuesday, July 20, 2021<\/p>\n\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Today, the Ontario Divisional Court is holding the first hearings on nine court cases Democracy Watch filed last December challenging nine rulings by Ontario\u2019s Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake. Commissioner Wake is trying to stop all the cases, claiming his rulings can\u2019t be challenged in court. DWatch is asking the court to allow the cases to proceed<\/a>, and to order the Commissioner to disclose details about all his rulings<\/a> <\/strong>that the Commissioner wants to keep secret. Nick Papageorge of Ross McBride LLP<\/a> is representing Democracy Watch for the cases. See details about the nine cases below.<\/p>\n\n

To register to watch the hearing on Zoom at 10 am Tuesday, email the Divisional Court registry office at: scj-csj.divcourtmail@ontario.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Three of the nine cases challenge<\/strong> the first three public rulings of the Integrity Commissioner\u2019s unknown number of decisions in the past few years that have let dozens of people (and maybe more) violate enforcing section 3.4<\/a> of Ontario\u2019s Lobbyists Registration Act<\/em> (LR Act<\/em>) by lobbying Doug Ford and his Cabinet ministers soon after they campaigned, fundraised or worked for Ford and\/or Ontario\u2019s PC Party in the 2018 leadership race and election, and\/or worked for Ford or one or more of his ministers since the election.<\/p>\n\n

Section 3.4 was added to the LR Act<\/em> on July 1, 2016, and it prohibits lobbying any politician or other public office holder if it will create a real or potential conflict of interest or make it improper for them to further the interests of the lobbyist or their clients.<\/p>\n\n

Many of these people are still advising Ford and\/or in senior PC Party positions while they continue to lobby Ford\u2019s Cabinet on long-term care<\/a>, property development<\/a>, COVID-19 relief, mining, and other big issues. Click here<\/a> to see a fairly complete list of lobbyists who are lobbying unethically, and click here<\/a> to see Toronto Star<\/em> articles about even more lobbyists lobbying the Ford Cabinet unethically.<\/p>\n\n

Even one of Ford\u2019s MPPs has expressed concern, as Thornhill MPP Gila Martow<\/a> issued a statement via Twitter<\/a> and a docs webpage<\/a> last December that said in part:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cBig box retailers should not be permitted to enrich themselves on the backs of small businesses simply because they can afford to hire <\/span>well-connected lobbyists like Melissa Lantsman<\/a> to get them preferential treatment.\u201d (link in original)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n

Commissioner Wake\u2019s rulings are based on a very weak Interpretation<\/a> Bulletin<\/span> he finally issued in June 2020 that claims when a lobbyist assists a politician with fundraising or campaigning or gives them a gift<\/a>, the conflict of interest created by the assistance or gift disappears soon afterwards, so the lobbyist can then lobby the politician and their staff.<\/p>\n\n

All other commissioners in Canada have ruled that the conflict of interest created by assisting a politician in any significant way lasts for several years. For example, the federal Commissioner of Lobbying\u2019s ruling<\/a> says the conflict lasts four years. The federal lobbying law also prohibits Cabinet staff from lobbying for five years after leaving their position (s. 10.11<\/a> \u2013 though it has loopholes). Click here<\/a> to see Backgrounder on Conflict of Interest Rule in Ontario\u2019s Lobbying Law<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

The other six cases challenge<\/strong> Commissioner Wake\u2019s arbitrary failure to penalize six lobbyists who violated Ontario\u2019s lobbying law in serious ways, mainly by failing to register and disclose their lobbying for a year or more. The Commissioner has failed to penalize 23 of 27 lobbyists<\/a> (85%) who have violated the law since 2018.<\/p>\n\n

During the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Commissioner Wake only penalized one lobbyist, Lawrence Gold, for violating LR Act<\/em> by failing to register and disclose his lobbying for a long period of time. The Commissioner only imposed the minimum penalty of naming Mr. Gold publicly<\/a>. Four of the other six lobbyists who were not penalized by the Commissioner did exactly the same thing as Mr. Gold. The other two lobbyists violated the law by lobbying politicians after campaigning for them or giving them gifts, in violation of section 3.4<\/a> of the LR Act<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

All nine cases also ask the courts to rule<\/strong> that Commissioner Wake was biased when he issued the six rulings, given he knew that he would need the unanimous approval of Ford\u2019s Cabinet and all MPPs to be re-appointed for a second five-year term, which happened on December 1st<\/a> (although many MPPs were not present for that snap vote<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

\u201cDozens of people who have helped or worked for Doug Ford or his Cabinet ministers or the PC Party have set themselves up in lobbying firms and, even though many of them have never lobbied before, big businesses are hiring them because they know it will get them inside access to Ford and his ministers,\u201d<\/em> Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch. \u201cDemocracy Watch is challenging the first three very weak decisions that Ontario\u2019s so-called Integrity Commissioner has made public that have allowed lobbyists to corrupt Ontario government policy-making as they cash in on their so-called public service. Hopefully the courts will stop this unethical lobbying of Ford\u2019s Cabinet.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

\u201cOntario\u2019s Integrity Commissioner has also failed to penalize almost all the lobbyists he has found in violation of the lobbying law since 2018, and so Democracy Watch is taking the commissioner to court to challenge the worst of his many bad rulings,\u201d<\/em> said Conacher. \u201cHopefully the courts will issue rulings that require the Commissioner to start enforcing the lobbying rules strictly by penalizing all lobbyists who violate the law.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Huge loopholes in the LR Act<\/em> allow countless other lobbyists to lobby in secret and unethically. None of the following lobbying activities are required to be disclosed: unpaid lobbying<\/a>, business lobbying<\/a> or non-profit organization lobbying<\/a> of less than 50 hours a year, lobbying about the enforcement of a law<\/a>, or in response to a request for feedback<\/a> from a Minister, official or MPP. As a result, anyone lobbying in these ways is also allowed to lobby unethically.<\/p>\n\n

– 30 –<\/p>\n

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:<\/strong>
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: info@democracywatch.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

Democracy Watch\u2019s Government Ethics Campaign<\/a> and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\n
\n\n

Backgrounder on Democracy Watch\u2019s 9 cases challenging Ontario Integrity Commissioner rulings on lobbyists in 2019-2020<\/h2>\n\n

Since April 2018, Commissioner Wake has issued 192 secret Advisory Opinions, closed 135 secret compliance reviews at the initial stage, and resolved 436 cases informally in secret (Click here<\/a> to see Backgrounder on Integrity Commissioner\u2019s Rulings<\/em> 2018-2020<\/em>). At least some of those 763 secret decisions by Commissioner Wake have allowed dozens of other lobbyists to lobby unethically.<\/p>\n\n

The first three cases challenge rulings #6 and 7 on page 52 of the Commissioner\u2019s 2019-2020 Annual Report<\/em><\/a>, and ruling #10 on page 53 of the Report<\/em>. These are the first public Commissioner rulings enforcing section 3.4<\/a> of the LR Act<\/em>. The cases are Division Court file numbers 632\/20, 633\/20 and 634\/20. Click here<\/a> to see the Notice of Application challenging ruling #6 (the other two applications are very similar).<\/p>\n\n

The other six cases challenge rulings #s 5, 14, 17 and 23 (the four lobbyists who also failed to register) and rulings #s 13 and 20 (the two lobbyists who violated the lobbying ethics rule) in the Commissioner\u2019s 2019-2020 Annual Report<\/em><\/a>. The six cases are Division Court file numbers 644\/20, 645\/20, 646\/20, 647\/20, 648\/20 and 669\/20.<\/p>\n\n

To register to watch the hearing on Zoom at 10 am Tuesday, July 20, 2021, or to access the court files, email the Divisional Court registry office at: scj-csj.divcourtmail@ontario.ca<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

9 Court cases challenge Commissioner\u2019s first three public rulings on lobbying ethics rule since July 2016, and failure to penalize six lobbyists who violated law FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Tuesday, July 20, 2021 OTTAWA \u2013 Today, the Ontario Divisional Court is holding the first hearings on nine court cases Democracy Watch filed last December challenging nine rulings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13339"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18414,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13339\/revisions\/18414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}